Research, beginning with an Italian scholar named Romana Guarnieri, has established that Marguerite of Porete, a French mystic during the late 13th and early 14th century, wrote "The Mirror of Simple Souls." The reason that Marguerite's name was not attributed to the book for several centuries was due to being sentenced as a heretic at the beginning of the 14th century. After refusing to discontinue the publication and dissemination of her work, she was deemed guilty of heresy and burnt at the stake on June 1, 1310. Ellen Babinsky provides an excellent analysis and account of Marguerite in her translation, "Marguerite Porete: The Mirror of Simple Souls."